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4/26/12

Ride In 4/25 and Ride Home 4/25: Dogswithlolz.biz.co.uk

It rained this morning. Just a drizzle. Here's my bag when I got to work. It has my jacket in it. I am a dunce.

Disembodied foot. Wait, that's a different blog.

There's a public charter school near my house and everyday I pass bike lanes that are blocked by cars with Maryland license plates, having dropped off (or in the process of dropping off) kids who I'm sure live in the District, right? Critiquing Maryland drivers is like shooting fish in a barrel, or as Maryland drivers are wont to do, driving directly into barrels of fish and then blaming the fish for not sharing the road. I find it good practice to bicycle with caution when around schools because children are apt to run out into roads without looking and the adults who drop them off are apt ro run you over without looking. PTA doesn't stand for Prevent Traffic Accidents. It also not an acronym for anything that starts with Pterodactyl. Nothing starts with pterodactyl.
I don't think I was properly caffeinated for the morning ride. Between that and the gray skies, I don't think anything in particular stood out. Those bollards that I thought were fixed weren't fixed and now I have to follow up with DDOT again. I didn't notice that until I the ride home, but this is a double post and I'm going to write about the ride home anyway, so why not mention it now? It's my blog and I can do whatever I want. What's that, shareholders of TFTS Co.? A hostile takeover? Whaaaaaa?[I've been deposed. The remainder of the post is being written by the new board-appointed blogger. I knew I never should've taken TFTS public.]
When to cut the queue and when to wait in line? That's an important question. I mean, relatively. Not like, world-historically or anything. Weird tangent alert: I recommend David Abulafia's book on Frederick II. I think that the things I consider when making this decision are: how many cars, amount of relative space on the side of the cars, amount of time on the red light, and the amount of space/bike infrastructure available on the other side of the intersection. If there's ample room and ample time, I'm probably going to cut the queue. I will probably not cut the cue, which is what really short billiards players must do. Unless, I'm not really in a hurry and then I'll just wait. But here's the thing. Sometimes cutting the queue, especially when there's a bike lane on the other sid of the intersection, is more selfless than selfish. In aggregate, the total speed of everyone will be improved. So, there's that to think about, too.
[Specific recounting of my behavior and the behavior of others on the same roads on which I always recount this behavior, specifically. Also, I saw a guy riding a bike with a bike leg brace on his right leg and I saw a lady riding a bike as she held a bouquet.]
I like when people match their umbrellas to their boots and I especially like when both are in the Burberry pattern.
South Africa embassy construction is cramping my style. Also, they were doing some digging in front of the Vatican embassy and I'm pretty sure they weren't landscaping so much as looking for hidden papal gold.
Why do some bicyclists feel the need to show their deference to other bicyclists not just by moving over, but by moving over off the road and riding on the grass? There's a difference between beindg polite and being weirdly anti-social.
Before I left for the ride home, my boss said to me that I should use the ride home to decompress. I really appreciated this advice. Bike commuting is a great way to decompress. I endorse decompressing.
There was an event at the British Embassy and it snarled traffic (stuff 'snarls' traffic all the time. it's cliche-tacular) on Mass and it was lame. Boo. And then there was traffic in Sheriden Circle and that was also lame. I snuck though past some buses and I was kind of worried that the police officer in the police cruiser was going to pull me over because I am a scofflaw.
I got shoaled by some lady three seconds before the light turned green. I don't know why she shoaled me. I didn't ask.
I think this was yesterday, but there was a brass band playing at Dupont. A brass band!
When I'm in a right-hand bike lane and a driver next to and a little in front of me puts on his right turn signal, I move out of the bike lane and directly behind their car. Because then he can see that he's not going to right hook me. And perhaps more importantly, then he can actually not right hook me. It doesn't work in every situation, but it works in most.
Why do I think it's awkward when I pass people? Is it because I know I'm quite slow?

out of sequence picture.

Oh, that's a guy who locks his bike to the rack and takes off the front wheel, so it's even harder to steal. I don't know if that's overkill. It might be overkill. But I guess you're no worse off for overkilling. You don't have to be faster than the bear.
I think someone scoffed at me in the Penn lanes. I can't be sure. She might have just been scoffing generally.
People jaywalk a lot between the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. Maybe that's a metaphor. Or maybe they just should look for bicyclists. Maybe a sign that said "Hey, look over there! Bicyclists coming!" could work. Or something less exclamatory. Whatever.
East Capitol paving problems. New bike lanes seems way too narrow. Way, way too narrow. They haven't been striped, but there are dashes. I hope that this is wrong.
I might have seen John Boehner. Or just an orange dude. I don't know. Seemed too short to be Boehner. Right shade of orange, though.
Does anyone want to read a series of detectives novels about blonde ladies who run in bike lanes and also solve mysteries? Because I've got a really great setting where that novel could take place.
Brakes squeak again. Maybe I'll rub some coffee on them at Friday Coffee Club tomorrow. 7:30 to 9 at Swings (17th and Gth, NWth). I'll have buttons for sale. Bloggers be vending.

6 comments:

I put all my rain gear on before I left and ended up taking it off after a bit...I was getting sweatier from the gear than I was wet from the rain. And the most I got was a light misting, so that made me happy.

@Brian - Hah, one does drink a LOT of chai over there...whether it actually hydrates is another issue, but the chai was normally safer than non-bottled water as it's boiled, so folks end up drinking lots of tea.